Hel - Goddess of Death Picture

In Norse mythology Hel is the Goddess of the Deads, she reigns over the kingdom of death and she represents death. Her servants bring the souls of those who recently died to this Hades, also called Hel or Niflheim, but Hel is not able to predict death or to kill the people. This is the duty of the Three Goddesses of Destiny, the Norns. But Hel reigns over her Kingdom of Doom with iron fist, and no one who has ever come to this place, no soul is ever allowed to come back to the living. Hel is very strict and takes care of her "job" . Hel herself has two sides concerning her body: One side is the one of a wonderful young woman, the other one is dead, fleshy, sinewy and veinish and " unborn". Everything which stands for death.

A famous story about her: One day, the " evil" (not quite sure) God Loki killed Baldr, the son of Frigg and Odin, the most wonderful young man and God on earth and in all the skies. Baldr was loved by all the other Gods and unvulnerable. But the cunning Loki found a way to override this invulnerability...but it would take too much time to explain how^^
Well, Baldr was dead and his soul has gone to Hel. Frigg cried and cried and because of this, love on earth didn't exist anylonger, nature became weak and pale and Evil grew. Then, Odin decided to send his son to Hel in order to set Baldr free. Well the son rode down and he found Hel sitting on her throne, surrounded with shadows, in the center of the Kingdom of Darkness, and Baldr's soul hovering on her side. So he asked her to give Baldr back to the living because Baldr has always represented joy, beauty and youth. And he said: " Every creature, every thing which exists on earth cries because of Baldr's death. Please release him !"
And Hel answered: "Is so? Show it to me! So if everthing on earth sheds tears for Baldr, I'll let him go!"
Then the Gods of Asgard gave a sign and everything started to cry. Human-beings, Gods, spirits, stones, plants, animals, water drops, earth, everything. But in a cave, hidden in a deep forrest there was sitting Loki, who had transformed his body into an ill female colossus. She said, brandishing her fists against the sky: " Baldr is useless for me! What has he done for me? Has he ever helped me? No! I've to suffer of my illness, I became ugly and no one helped me. So why shall I cry for that God?"

So Loki was the only one who did not cry. Hel recognized this and she sent Odin's son back to Asgard without Baldr. And Baldr will be kept imprisoned in Hel forever and no power will ever be able to set him free because he felt under the power of death which also concerns Gods and Goddesses...

After this failed try to save Baldr the Gods tried to rebuild the world but special pieces of its beauty were gone forever...

Baldr is imprisoned forever, until Ragnarök, the End of the World, the final battle, when the Norse Gods will die...Will Hel die? Will the personification of death itself really die, too? So is her power even greater than the one of the Holy Godfather Odin? Will the power of death be greater than the power of creation?